Review: Battle For Blood

Battle for Blood came to my attention when I was fixing up a computer for a friend and I was setting it up to have something that their grand-kid could play as opposed to playing flash games and downloading viruses from various websites. Thus Steam was downloaded and some FTP games were installed.

I’m a fairly decent fan of Match-3 games in as much as they are more blatantly time-wasters more so than your usual games are. A lot of games will try to give you a deep story where in Match-3 games, the stories are pretty bland and used more as filler between and explaining why the levels exist in the order they do. Battle for Blood is basically the same thing with a mild twist.

With so many Match-3’s out there, if you are to make a new one and want it to compete, you’ll have to do something different. What Battle for Blood does is reward you in real-time with units for the fight you are currently engaging in above the Match-3 board. The bigger the match, the larger the number of units are brought into the field. You’ll probably encounter some super BS baddies, but give it time and you’ll end up with some of your own. The flip-side of the coin is that there are “penalties” to using said powerful units… well for you. The computer just does whatever it wants.

I spent a good chuck of time and money (not real world) here debating about which unit to level and then more so the unit specs, probably more than I should have.

As you progress you gain access to more powerful units, however there is one more thing you need to pay attention to. Each unit has a cost (which also corresponds to the rate at which their pieces will appear on the board). More powerful units cost a lot less, but you’ll still have to send a level specific amount of units onto the field. Weaker units will fill this need quicker since they have a higher cost. The more powerful units won’t fill this bar much at all. That means to get up to the level specific amount of units, you’ll have to bring more troops. That also means there are more tiles on the board and it will be harder to create large matches or matches at all really. You’ll have to decide if the cost is worth the benefit, and sometimes it is. I didn’t like taking more than 4-5 units in if I didn’t have to.

There was a level that took about 45 seconds to start because it had to load the first set of tiles 5-6 times due to a lack of matches. I got a good laugh out of that. I wouldn’t have if the battle had started without me though.

With each round won or lost, you’ll gain money. You’ll be using this to upgrade many aspects of each troop individually. This is where the grind can come in. Some levels will be designed as difficulty barriers. You’ll probably have to try some of these levels a few times. Some have complained about the grinding in this game, however they have obviously never played a game with real grinding ala Monster Hunter. That said, sometimes upgrading your troops doesn’t guarantee victory. I’ve simply played a level a time or three and suddenly the RNG was with me and I straight wrecked the level that previously trounced me. Whatever works I guess, right?

While Battle for Blood does slap you with RNG, it at least isn’t taking math lessons from X-Com. There is some grinding to be found, but it’s really nothing to be worried about since the core concept of the game is rather fun. If you’re having a rough go about the game, mix up your picks. I tended to stick with the low-cost units, healer and one big DPS/tank. Remember that a smaller, but stronger army is better. The only other thing that can get frustrating is earning three starts because it tends to rely on the amount of things you kill. If you don’t get three stars, stay until you do. It’ll be harder if you have to come back with stronger units. If you do well, you can probably destroy all the content in about ten hours. That’s more than some time I’ve spent in games that cost me money. If you enjoy Match-3 games, you have no real excuse for not playing Battle for Blood. I am waiting for the additional content that Battle for Blood says is coming.